Ponchatoula Child Rape Case Begins

The sex with children case as part of an occult ritual has started.  Austin "Trey" Bernard III, 39, faces three counts of aggravated rape involving children, including a 2-year-old girl.  The defendant, Bernard is the first of seven members of Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula Louisiana to go on trial since the allegations began in 2005.

LRA Meets Jindal Advisory Council

Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) Board Member and Chair of the LRA Housing Task Force Walter Leger testified today before Governor-elect Bobby Jindal's Hurricane Recovery Advisory Council to discuss the ongoing progress and challenges of housing recovery in South Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

To read Leger's testimony as prepared, click here.

The meeting at Tulane University was hosted by Council Chair Mayor Randy Roach of Lake Charles. LRA Chairman Dr. Norman C. Francis also serves as Vice Chair of the Advisory Council and delivered opening remarks.

New Orleans Meets Washington DC

Hurricane Katrina created or exacerbated many community challenges within New Orleans, from education to ethics to crime to the levee system. Citizen leaders are now engaged in these most important issues.  On November 29, in Washington DC,  there will be a panel discussion and press conference concerning a number of these issues.  Participating will be the following

· Donald Powell, Chairman, President’s Office of Gulf Coast Recovery

• Jay Lapeyre, Chair, New Orleans Business Council
• Greg Rusovich, Chair, New Orleans Crime Coalition, New Orleans Business Council Executive Committee
• Leslie Jacobs, Member, Louisiana Board of Elementary and Second Education, New Orleans Business Council Executive Committee
  John Koerner, III, Member, Flood Protection Alliance, New Orleans Business Council

• Merritt Lane, III, New Orleans Business Council Executive Committee
• Bob Brown, Managing Director, New Orleans Business Council

New Orleans City Park

Due to Katrina the city of New Orleans is changing shape in many ways.  One of the more innovative projects is has been approved by the New Orleans City Park's board on Tuesday, which endorsed redeveloping the Katrina hit golf courses with the help of various nonprofit organizations and to build a new “early learning village: museum.  Also, the foundation is keeping the momentum for a project to connect the restored recreational and golfing facilities to a mixed-income residential development at the nearby site of the St. Bernard public housing complex. The idea is patterned after a concept in Atlanta.   

Future Speaker Fights Back  

The Advocate has written about a political battle brewing between two highly-political individuals that might end up in a lawsuit.  According to the Advocate, “Republican state Rep. Jim Tucker said Tuesday he wants Democratic Party chairman Chris Whittington to retract a statement in which he took Tucker to task for involvement in a housing tax credit program that was the subject of an ethics probe.”

Based upon the Advocate, the “state Ethics Board voted 9-2 in October to drop charges against Tucker involving allegations he improperly got housing tax credits through a hurricane recovery program.

In an e-mail to Democratic Party insiders, Whittington said Tucker “took the tax credits and then didn’t rebuild his apartment complexes.”

Tucker said the statement is “blatantly false,” is warning Whittington about a possible lawsuit unless certain conditions are met.  Tucker has been supported by Bobby Jindal to be the incoming Speaker of the House after determining that a Tucker had a consensus of the votes from current and future House members

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